Heroes come in many shapes and sizes. Mine is in the shape of a blonde 15-year-old wild child who runs around the yard barefoot.
I always had a plan in life, a map for my future. I was always one step ahead of others. I was the leader, the role model, the person your parents say has their life together, the "why can't you be more like her" child. I never thought I would be the one who needed a hero. But I did.
Being over 1,000 miles from home for my freshman year of college was stressful. Every day I would receive a call from my family. Not to ask how I am doing, but to gossip about their own lives or make me do my sisters' homework. But one night in the middle of March, I got a call from my younger sister. She was beside herself with worry and self doubt. She took a career aptitude test in her social studies class and was upset at her results.
She also had to finish an English essay and wanted me to read it, which I was happy to do. All while trying to talk about her future and how she was really stressed in school. She kept asking me how I did it, how I took so many advanced classes and participated in sports and school clubs. She told me that she always wanted to be like me, but it was too hard. But I do not want her to be like me. She is amazing at being her.
I realized then and there that I never told her how proud I was of her and all she had already accomplished at such a young age. She was so much more than that one test score or that one English assignment. She amazes me every day. Whether it is competing across the country in equestrian vaulting, detailing every character from Marvel or DC comics, performing at the Minnesota State Fair, teaching younger riders how to control their horse, reading the same book 17 times and still finding it funny or reading that book to our flock of ducks.
The dictionary's hero: Great bravery, courage, valor, intrepidity, boldness, daring, audacity.
My hero: Caring, supportive, bright, fearless, funny, adventurous, creative, energetic, independent and mine.
I continue to watch her grow and develop into an amazing young lady. I want to be there for her and inspire her to do great things with the potential she has been given.
That night I helped her see how bright her future is, the future she could have. I helped my hero see that she is indeed hero worthy. She is turning 16 this year, but in my eyes she will always be the 12-year-old hooligan that I love. So keep your eyes open; you never know where you will find your inspiration.
